The Caretaker - A Stairway to the Stars

2001; 14 tracks
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Thou - Summit

 2010; 6 tracks  Thou is a prolific Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based doom/sludge/black metal group formed in 2005. They have continued to release several EPs and albums each year since their formation, and just this year have already released two splits.  

Summit is a fantastic record. The only album out of four releases in 2010, it is an absolute masterpiece... at least to me. I can't even explain my love for this album in words. I just can't.

For more information on the band's upcoming shows as well as visual and social elements of the band's activity, check out their website.

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Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Love is a Stream

 2010; 12 tracks  Rough-edged bliss. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma is a Californian multi-instrumentalist associated with the label Root Strata (home to artists such as Oneohtrix Point Never, Grouper, and Barn Owl) and the band Tarantel. Love is a Stream is his third full-length, among a variety of other electronic and drone/ambient releases. I love the texture of this album, it is both soft and rough. Static-filled and dreamy. Recommended if you enjoy the music of Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker.

where you end and i begin

Earth - Pentastar: In the Style of Demons

1996; 8 tracks
I'd never heard of Earth before this album, and it is thanks to a friend whose taste in music I literally worship that I even picked this up. Earth are a renowned stoner/doom/drone metal band, founded by Dylan Carlson in 1990. Repetitive, slow, and steady, their sounds blend the best of solid doom metal with disarming monotony. This is a lovely work, I highly recommend it.

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Isis - Celestial + SGNL>05

2000; 11 tracks


2001; 5 tracks

I am firmly convinced that there is a hardly more adept band (at least of this genre) than Isis when it comes to an essential part of music - story-telling. Listening to these 16 tracks in succession, however, is a slightly different experience than gathering around a fire to hear ancient tales be told. No, this is a journey, through deserts of blistering heat and jungles of abandoned construction equipment. A sea of wires and ends that will never meet, Celestial, along with SGNL>05, combine the basest of emotions stripped bare and the rawest forms of post-metal in such a way that it is, frankly, haunting. They are both brutally poetic, at times, but thoroughly beautiful... see "Celestial (Fills the Void)" from the EP (remixed by Justin Broadrick, whose influence is clear throughout much of Isis' music).

I love the entire discography of Isis. They are a truly gifted band and albums like Oceanic and Panopticon (and Wavering Radiant) are just... breathtaking. With these two releases, however, some of the band's early heavy sound can be heard. Celestial is the band's first full-length album, and SGNL>05 is an extension of the album released as an EP less than a year later. I love love love listening to these together - Isis is a band from whom I can never turn myself away.

In the words of one review (it's a great one, here):

"God, it’s beautiful to come across a group that is as driven by the desire to level as they are by the desire to create an interesting, layered, lasting piece of art that appeals to so many different senses and faculties. Listening to Celestial is an all-consuming experience, one that satisfies every part of the animal brain."

Do you ever get that feeling that you're sinking?
I do.

Jesu - Heart Ache EP

 2004; 2 tracks This is Justin Broadrick's first album under the name Jesu, a drone/sludge project where he does all of the instruments himself.  

Heart Ache's two 20 minute tracks contain moments of pure, crushing glory, and some of the most beautiful transitions and melodies one will ever hear. That is all I feel I should say, really, because this is undoubtedly Jesu's best release.

Download.

Current 93 - Sleep Has His House

2000; 9 tracks

"Have pity for the dead / Sleep has his house…"

Sleep Has His House conjures a hallucinatory landscape ripe with symbolism.

Haunted, otherworldly, and more obviously personal than anything David Tibet has ever created. Tibet's harmonium roots his half-sung, half-chanted poetry. An overwhelming entreaty for compassion. - weird brother

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Svarte Greiner - Knive

2006; 9 tracks

Svarte Greiner is Erik K. Skodvin, half of the Norwegian electronic group Deaf Center. This is his first of two albums. It really is the perfect album for a winter's night. The soft, blustery soundscapes are really unique and beautiful. I'll be listening to this more and more over the coming months. I'm about to go to sleep now.

Download

Purchase

Aidan Baker & Tim Hecker - Fantasma-Parastasie

 2008; 7 tracks

Fantasmes Parastasie is an absolutely gorgeous ambient album, one of my top three if not the top one ever. Each song is a fuzzy infusion of brilliant, effusive light. There is a growing anticipation throughout the album that just builds up beautifully as the night grows deeper and darker...

"Auditory Spirits" makes my soul fly away


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High Wolf - Incapulco

2009; 7 tracks

High Wolf is a neo-psychedelia/electronic project from France that is absolutely incredible! According to Last.fm, High Wolf "uses loops, percussive sounds, fuzzy keyboards and obscure sunken melodies to create a ritual space that combines aspects of exotica, ethno-flux, drone and minimalism." I hope that caught your interest.

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Purchase

The Skull Defekts - The Temple

2009; 8 tracks

My friend told me about this album, and once I listened, I knew exactly why. The Temple is an intensely powerful album that just blew me away.

The Skull Defekts have made a rock record unlike any other I've heard. It's sexmagic. It's powerthrill. It's everything a rock record should be. I had no idea what I was missing until I heard this. The percussion is so tribal and propulsive and the guitars are buzzing electric raw. This is the record you crank all the way up and fucking pound your chest to. - Anti-Gravity Bunny

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Purchase

Eliane Radigue - Adnos I-III

2002; 3 tracks (3:36:51)

I have been through a lot with these profoundly beautiful pieces, so I decided that I MUST share it with others, because it may mean at least something to someone else.

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/412 - I consider it pointless for me to write anything more when this review says it all.

To go towards unity.

Jesu & Fog - Kissing Kin

2010; 2 tracks

Collaberation between Jesu and Fog.

Greatest 8 minutes of my life.


I guess.


Download.

Zero Kama - The Secret Eye of L.A.Y.L.A.H.

Zero Kama was a ritual experimental project of Michael DeWitt, the founder of Nekrophile Records. This album is awesome and reminds me a lot of the most early Coil releases... It's very atmospheric and dark, but also very clever and beautiful. The instruments used to create the music is also a testament to their unique sound.. :x


"All instruments to be heard on this album were exclusively made from human bones and skulls by the hand of Zero Kama. They never have been used since the time of its recording, which took place at the Secret Temple of Laylah from 5th to 28th of May 1984 . Remixed at Psychonaut Studio Vienna in November 1987, and dedicated to the symbol of Laylah, meaning night and death, as well as to its numerical equivalent, Oz, a goat or unrestrained sexual force of creation, thus showing the identity of the basic two opposite forces in this generous universe of beauty and strength, in which the Lovers my find ecstasy in Pan. Who wishes to enter this world of darkness, in which the Great Goat dwelleth, may pass through the sigil of Oz given at the front of this Cover.

The Secret Eye Of L.A.Y.L.A.H. was originally released on tape in 1984 by Nekrophile Records (NRC 07). Rereleased on LP in 1988 by Permis De Construire (PER 009) and on CD by the same label in 1991 (PER 023)."

This is the LP version.


1988; 11 tracks

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Six Organs of Admittance - School of the Flower

2005; 8 tracks

Six Organs of Admittance is an experimental folk band, founded by Ben Chasny, in 1988/northern California. This album is extremely delicate and all the while intense. There are some really nice acoustic parts in this album. Most notable might be the ending track, "Lisboa," which is a very beautiful guitar lullaby. As if that weren't enough, there are also obvious drone/noise influences in this album, ranging from Sunn O))) to Fushitsusha.

"School of the Flower is one of those rare, understated but compulsive collections you'll want to listen to on repeat until it's time to blow out the incense, dump the wine in the sink, and step fuzzy-headed into the imperfect sunlight of the prosaic, but suddenly potentially transcendent world."

Download.

Ben Frost - By the Throat

Ben Frost is Australian composer who now resides in Iceland. His music is transcendental for me. There are elements of nearly everything I like in his music, especially this album: Black metal, soft electronics, some drone, elements of harsh noise, and experimental use of many different instruments. I want to have this album forever - it is a frosty masterpiece. More info here.


2009; 11 tracks

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